Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Riverside County Confirms Case Of Leprosy

The child has been treated and is no longer contagious, health officials said. A second student who may be related to the first child also had been diagnosed with the disease, formally known as Hansen's disease, but lab tests did not confirm that diagnosis. “There’s no indication that the second child has Hansen’s disease,” said Barbara Cole, director for disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

Los Angeles Times:
Health Officials Confirm Riverside County Child Has Leprosy
Health officials in Riverside County confirmed Friday that an elementary schoolchild has Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy. The child appears to have contracted the rare disease from “someone that had been diagnosed with Hansen’s disease who had prolonged, close contact with the child,” said Barbara Cole, director for disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health. (Karlamangla, 9/23)

LA Daily News:
Leprosy Worries Remain For Some Jurupa Valley Parents
Lab tests have confirmed that a Jurupa Valley child has leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, which has some parents jittery. The findings by the National Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) Laboratory Research Program in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, supported a local doctor’s diagnosis that a student at Indian Hills Elementary School had leprosy. (Hurt, 9/24)

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